News and insight
Ban on beards at work: a safety issue or ‘penny-pinching stupidity’?
Building firm Mears has introduced a ban on staff wearing beards due to, it says, health and safety risks. In a letter to all staff, Mears stated that due to working in a potentially dusty environment, from now on all operatives must come to work clean shaven to be able to wear appropriate dust masks effectively. However, it says, “A ‘goatee’ may be acceptable so long as it does not hinder the correct fitting of said dusk masks.”
Kate Gardner
Fire safety guidance – what you need to know
Those of us who work in safety – and particularly in fire safety – have learned to see fire risk on a continuum. There really is only a small degree of difference between a toaster burning out and the kind of catastrophe that brings about scores of deaths, days of national mourning, and fundamental change to how we treat this most ancient, most omnipresent and most duplicitous of hazards.
Kelly Mansfield
Asperger’s Syndrome – making adjustments to recruitment processes
A recent case considered by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has highlighted the need for employers to be flexible when it comes to recruitment practice, emphasising that one size should definitely not be made to fit all.